From Tinseltown to Sin City

One week since my last blog, and what a trip we've had already! I'll just pick up the story where we left off, which was that we were about to pick up our home on wheels...

So on Saturday we packed up our things at the hostel, called a taxi and made our way to the Cruise America rental place to finally see our home for the next 23 days and take it with us out on the open road. Jelmer had the honour of driving it out of Los Angeles and off we went to the first stop of our trip: Joshua Tree National Park. Just before dusk we parked our RV at Black Rock Canyon Camping Grounds, all ready for our first night in the campervan. Of course being the least tallest of the three of us, I got the smallest bed which even I don't really fit into (unless I lie diagonally, then I fit... sort of...) So it didn't surprise me that I woke up early enough the next morning to see the sunrise over Joshua Tree while the boys were still vast asleep. Lucky for me it was a beautiful sunrise :) Once the boys got up as well a few hours later, we set off for a short walking trail in the park, which was beautiful. All these rock formations and crazy Joshua trees... awesome :)

After that walk I did my first bit of driving our massive RV, which went okay. Empty roads are perfect practice manoeuvering our big beast :) We spent quite some time on the road that day actually, trying to get as close to Grand Canyon in one day as we could. Stopped for dinner at an all-American restaurant at Seligman along the famous Route 66, where the waitress fitted all the stereotypes you see in movies of roadside restaurant waitresses and where we met two really friendly American women who we chatted to for a while as well. Love that part of travelling, randomly pulling in somewhere and hearing other peoples' stories. Very cool :) Eventually we pulled into our next spot for the night well past dark at Lake Kaibab. Again a beautiful spot, this time in the middle of the woods and right next to - as the name already suggests - lake Kaibab.

From Lake Kaibab we made our way to Grand Canyon. As we drove into the park, we were surprised by how quickly we got to see the canyon, as it was right next to the road we were driving on, and our first reaction was a simple 'wow'. So surreal. It looked kind of fake too, as though it was projected on one of those blue screens they use for movies. One of the rangers there did a talk about the Grand Canyon and when it was first 'discovered' as the colours started changing and the sun slowly sank behind the rim of the canyon. Once again a beautiful sunset.

The next day we left Arizona behind and pressed on towards Utah, the third state of our trip, to arrive in Monument Valley. Watched the sunset and had dinner there before getting out our deck of cards again. Lovely :)

After having seen the sunset over Monument Valley we of course also had to watch the sunrise. So early next morning we got up to see the sun come up right behind the rocks, which was very much worth the early wake-up. One of our neighbouring campers gave us a tip about a scenic drive just outside the park that was way less touristy and just as beautiful as the one in the park, if not more. As that other one was on our route anyway, we decided to follow his advice and drive through The Valley of the Gods. Our neighbour was right, it was a very beautiful scenic drive without the hordes of tourists surrounding you. After having travelled many miles again, Moab was our stop for the night.

Who now thinks that we only have adventures during the waking hours is wrong, because in Moab we had an interesting night. So night came in Moab and we all went to sleep sometime just after midnight I guess. So far so good. We're all sleeping peacefully until around 3.30-ish am, Rick falls out of his overhead bed and I wake up screaming, as I think some stranger has just jumped into our RV in the middle of the night. Only a few seconds later do I realise what really happened, but by then I have already woken up Jelmer and some of our neighhbours with my screaming... Quite an interesting way to wake up, I can tell you that! Luckily Rick was fine besides a few scratches and bruises, and we resumed our sleep for the remainder of the night.

Needless to say though, the next morning came quite early, though that was also due to having an 8am appointment at the garage in Moab to fix our broken fridge. Met this 73-year-old man there from Kansas, who had travelled all around the world on a motorbike for many years and who was a great storyteller, so it was an awesome way to start our day listening to his stories :) By 9.30 we said goodbye to this man with our fridge fixed and our first stop for the day only 10 minutes or so up the road, namely Arches NP. I loved walking around there, it was stunning scenery.

Capitol Reef NP was our stop for the night that day. As the sun went down, Jelmer and I did a short walk close to the campgrounds. Very pretty views once again. We had to turn back before reaching the top of the mountain though, as it was getting dark fast. When we got back, there was a talk by ranger Dan on the geology of the area, which was interesting. Anyone who can make listening to geology for almost an hour interesting is doing something right, I think :) Of course our day ended with card games again :)

The following day we started with a scenic drive through Capitol Reef NP before moving onto Bryce Canyon, where we had our first bit of rain of our holidays and where it was a lot colder than we had gotten used to over here. Bryce Canyon was awesome despite the rain and the cold wind though :) After a short stop there we moved on to Zion NP, where we camped for the night watching thunder and lightning going crazy on the other side of the mountains.

The drive into Zion NP was absolutely stunning, and I was glad I wasn't the one driving, as the roads were very narrow for our big beast due to roadworks. The rest of Zion was a bit of a disappointment though, as it was way too touristy and the scenic shuttle bus loop you could do had most of its views blocked by the trees lining the road. So instead of doing the whole loop we decided to leave Zion and all its tourists behind and continue our way to Las Vegas. And Las Vegas is where we are still! It's a strange city, built in the middle of the desert with an energy bill that is no doubt higher than anywhere else in the world. Last night we spent the whole evening on the strip, starting at our campground on the south end and walking past all its neon lights and many casinos, stumbling on one crazy thing after the other. Had the best dinner at the Venetian, and after dinner we went to all the famous casinos, like The Mirage, where we just happened to walk past as they were putting on a kind of volcano show, Caesars Palace, which was just plain huge, and Bellagio, where we also just happened to walk past when their famous fountain show started. We ended our night around midnight at the MGM Grand. Of course we had to bet some money while we were in Sin City, and I am happy to report I more than doubled my input at one of the slot machines :) It was funny cashing in the ticket from the slot machine and hearing the jingling of the coins as my $2.06 was paid out to me :)

And now it's morning on day 9 of our roadtrip (not including LA) and we're heading for Death Valley today, where no doubt it will be really hot once again. I'm excited for the next two and a half weeks we still have left of our trip and looking forward to the next adventures I'll have with the boys. Judging from the way it's been now, I'm sure we'll have awesome fun :) Rick is like a little kid in a candy store sometimes, getting so excited about little things and is just absolutely loving being here. And Jelmer gets this little twinkle in his eyes from time to time and you can tell he's having the best time. I love it, being here with these two guys and seeing them soaking it all up :) I'm soaking it all up too. Hope you're all having a good time too, wherever you are and whatever you're up to. Love hearing from you all too, so leave a comment if you want to! My love to all of you, and I'm sure Rick and Jelmer send their love too :)
xx Carine


PS. I added more photos to my facebook album, so follow the link I posted on the previous blog for the new installment of photos.

PPS. Kudos if you read the whole blog... In true Carine style, I kind of went overboard, didn't I? My apologies :)